Archives of Congregation B'nai Israel
You may contact the Archives by leaving a message at the temple or emailing our archivist, Deborah Gordon.
Archivist Leah Ezray, of blessed memory, was the moving force behind gathering and cataloging the history of Congregation B'nai Israel and creating the Archives that exists today. You can read about how the materials were saved from the Arson Fire of 1999 and became the collection that exists today in the article, The History of Congregation B'nai Israel's Archives – coming soon!
The Collection
The Archives of Congregation B’nai Israel contain records of temple activities and Sacramento Jewish history dating back to the founding of the congregation in the middle of the 19th century. The collection includes:
- Documents (1851-present)
- Artifacts (1854-present)
- Photographs (1920s-present)
- Audiovisual Materials (1930s-present)
Click here for the archives "Finding Aid", a document containing detailed information about our collection of papers and records.
The collection is available for public research, by appointment. We are also happy to research specific questions from members of the congregation and the general public.
Exhibits
You may view displays of our archival material in Heritage Hall, the foyer north of the Social Hall in the main temple building. Our permanent exhibits include a display of our confirmation-class pictures from 1927 onward and a collection of enlarged images of documents and photographs tracing the history of the congregation. Temporary exhibits, which change once or twice a year, are displayed in the three archive cases in Heritage Hall.
The Archives of Congregation B’nai Israel also take part in the Sacramento Archives Crawl, held each year in early October. At this regional event, archives from two dozen local institutions exhibit items from their collections at four downtown locations. Learn more about the Crawl at their website: sacarchivescrawl.blogspot.com.
Resources
Cemetery Tour Brochure – Honoring 170 Years of our Jewish Community
Congregation B'nai Israel 150th Anniversary Video
Minute Book Transcription Project, “From Cursive to Print,” is Complete!
After a year of hard work, we have finished transcribing our three historic Minute Books into searchable text.
- Book 1: 1857–1879
- Book 2: 1879–1890
- Book 3, Part 1: 1898–1912
- Book 3, Part 2: 1912–1924
Both the originals (in cursive) and the transcriptions (in modernized text) are now available on Congregation B’nai Israel’s Transcription Project page on the From the Page website. You can search both versions for the names of your ancestors and any other historical names or events of interest. Note the gap in time between Book 2 and Book 3, Part 1 – unfortunately, the records for the period 1890 to 1898 have never been uncovered.
Scores of institutions upload documents to the From the Page site for transcription, so if you have some free time and enjoy helping to preserve history, hop onto FromthePage.com and take a look!
